The Cedar Lounge Revolution

55 days August 21, 2020

Mentioned yesterday on here that Harry McGee Irish Times had asked that people not judge the government on its first 100 days.

Signs of Hope – A continuing series August 21, 2020

Gewerkschaftler suggested this recently:

I suggest this blog should have a regular (weekly) slot where people can post happenings at the personal or political level that gives them hope that we’re perhaps not going to hell in a handbasket as quickly as we thought. Or as the phlegmatic Germans put it “hope dies last”.

Any contributions this week?

Holiday provision August 21, 2020

Mentioned holiday rights in this state the other day. It’s always worth returning to this topic at this time of year because the provision of holidays is so poor in many respects. This post early last year addressed this topic. As then the basic allocation remains one of around four weeks and nine days (if one adds in public holidays). That’s hardly overly generous. As also noted in the post the Helsinki Businessmen study, a forty years and continuing research project, notes that “men who took three weeks or less annual holiday had a 37 per cent greater chance of dying than those who took more than three weeks”. That’s a very real human cost.

It seems to me holidays and reduced working time should be the heart of any left project (this isn’t a bad start here). Key to prevent the economic crisis triggered by Covid-19 from further battering workers rights and provisions in these areas.

Here’s some grim stuff about vacation provision in the US.

On a not unrelated point, Jim Monaghan on comments BTL of that post noted an useful point:

…those who retire early, close to 60 or better 55, live well into their 80s and 90s. Productivity gains should be saved, shorter working week, early retirement etc.

ISSU letter on reopening of schools August 21, 2020

How is it that the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union seem to be more aware of the challenges facing schools reopening than the government? Perhaps because they actually talk to students?

The ISSU has issued a letter to the Minister for Education Norma Foley and the Department of Education & Skills outlining the serious concerns students have regarding the re-opening of schools. This coincided with the #Safety4Students hashtag trending at number 1 in Ireland on Wednesday 19th August.

The letter, outlining each of the concerns and need for more inclusive planning, is shared below.

_____________________________

Dear Minister Norma Foley,

In light of the recently announced government restrictions, the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union is calling for clarification on a number of critical concerns regarding the restrictions now implemented and guidelines provided for the return to school. Evidently, students, families, teachers and all in the school community recognise the necessity to return to school and want to return to education having been out of the classroom since early March. However, this requires clearer communications on the health and safety protocols expected within schools. To ensure an effective transition in the reopening of schools it is pivotal that guidance and clarification is provided on the following areas of concern.

The ISSU is requesting that the Department of Education and Skills provide the guidance given by the health and safety authorities, outlining the rationale whereby numbers within classrooms / school buildings are deemed acceptable in contrast to the current restrictions imposed by government. The government has also clearly indicated that citizens are expected to avoid public transport if at all possible, yet a substantial number of students will rely on this mode of transport to get to and from school every day. The ISSU would ask the department to explain the viability of this and the alternative arrangements for students who can no longer travel to school via public transport due to personal and / or medical concerns.

The ISSU recommends that a risk assessment contingency plan be developed and distributed to all school stakeholders, in conjunction with the relevant health authorities. This plan should define the threshold number of cases where schools will be required to close locally and nationally, provide guidance on the measures to be taken in a school should a case/cases be confirmed and the steps to follow for the continuity of teaching and learning in the event of a closure. This is particularly important as a full school closure was mandated on the 13th of March with 70 cases confirmed nationally which is significantly less than the newly confirmed cases over the last two weeks. Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, recently commented it is “almost inevitable that if schools open that there will be clusters in some schools”, emphasising the necessity for this contingency plan to be clearly communicated and provided to all students, families, teachers and school management in advance.

The Minister for Education has previously stated that the responsibility to provide tuition online to immunocompromised students will be the sole responsibility of the school. Any student who is immunocompromised or has a family member who is immunocompromised must be able to protect themselves and their families without fear of penalty. These students must be facilitated in receiving meaningful, proactive online tuition if unable to return to school. The ISSU is calling for the department to develop a national framework of how this online tuition should be provided.

The discrepancies of the digital divide resulted in varied education received during school closures. This must not become a barrier should online tuition be the only viable option again under possible future restrictions.The ISSU welcomed the financial aid package to help address issues regarding online learning, however support and specific guidelines from a national framework on online learning is essential, not only for students but for teachers to be able to facilitate and sustain an equitable teaching experience. Procedures should be implemented to include a review of online teaching and learning within the School Self-Evaluation and Inspectorate advisory arrangements for 2020/21. This is crucial to ensure fair and equal access to education for all especially those who are at high risk and left with no other options than to engage in learning online. Online learning should be treated with the same level of accountability and review as in class tuition.

In the event of a localised school closure students and teachers will be expected to transition very quickly again to online platforms. The ISSU acknowledges and appreciates the work undertaken during the closures by teachers and would encourage the department to have all necessary supports, supplies and CPD given preemptively. Stated in a department circular on the 13th of March “where possible, provide online resources for students or online lessons where schools are equipped to do so.”. All schools should be equipped sufficiently to provide online lessons in the coming academic year due to the uncertain nature of the pandemic and the likelihood that there may be some closures. Every student has the right to a certain standard and level of education that should be fair for all.

The ISSU recognises that students play a key role in the safe reopening of schools and have responsibilities in this process as well. All stakeholders will work collectively for the safety of the school community. A prerequisite must be set that in the event a class is not adhering to appropriate guidelines that a student is given the right to stop the class and bring the breach of guidelines to the attention of the class teacher or designated COVID-liason staff member. The class should not resume until it is safe for students and teachers present. The challenges faced by students are multifaceted in the return to education. Clarification is needed on the concerns aforementioned in order to prioritise the welfare of students and ensure that no student is left behind due to circumstances outside of their control.

We eagerly await your reply and hope to collaborate on establishing practical actions for the concerns highlighted.

Yours Sincerely,

Reuban Murray

ISSU President

Golf Society August 20, 2020

You really couldn’t make it up.

Incredible that Dara Calleary and others would actually go to such a do.

To think of the amount of events cancelled because of the restrictions……

What we’ve been watching August 20, 2020

Okay, gypsybhoy69 suggested this last week. As GB wrote:

Might be a need for a new irregular feature, there could be this one already. Something to add to the what I’ve been reading/gardening tropes. A what I’ve been watching feature.
Ok so we all know of the schizophrenic hydra that is the BBC. The BBC of Laura Kuenssberg, Nick Robinson and Fiona Bruce’s QT at one end and the BBC of BBC 4 and Radio 6 at the other end.
A BBC that the Tories call Marxist and a BBC that Marxists call rabidly right wing. It’s complicated.

So recently I’ve finished two BBC documentaries that I would recommend, the first one to a lesser extent but still powerful tv, that being the The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty. Watching it and following the timeline it left me seriously wondering whether Trump and Brexit were Murdoch’s payback for the personal hell he went through in 2011. Fascinating three parter.

The other documentary was Once Upon a Time in Iraq which just left me enraged but compelled. We lived through this but it’s scary how inured people can become to what is still happening in the name of bringing democracy to Iraq. I seriously recommend this five parter .

I’ve watched episode one of the two part BBC Castro documentary and I can say it’s definitely NOT up to the standard of these other two documentaries. Episode one to me was just plain lazy, it did try to be clear that Cuban revolutionaries had a right to fight for a better Cuba but after that it bent over backwards to equate Cuban international policy with America’s. Didn’t even give any explanation to the nature of the South African state pre the 1990’s.

Feargal offered:

What I’ve been watching… Rita… a Danish series about Rita, a schoolteacher… that’s all I’ll say!

crocodileshoes suggested:

Watch ‘Bordertown’, the best series I’ve seen on Netflix. Finnish. Great central performances. You’ll thank me.

My own viewing is a bit dull at the moment. Life on Mars (the original BBC series), True Detective Season One…

So, over to all of you, what’s good, and indeed what’s to be avoided?

100 days? August 20, 2020

Funny to read this in the IT asking people not to judge the government on its first 100 days. There’s a case made that the first 100 days is an artificial artifact dating back to FDR. Perhaps so though I think Harry McGee overstates that case. 100 days is a short snappy soundbite. It is just long enough for a government to push into train its policies, short enough for it to gain its feet, it also is close to a quarter, a little under a third, of a year. Say three months. Not the worst time to take stock. Indeed he argues that this is seen as a ‘critical period’ and inflects much of what follows. That he’s comparing a Presidential system with a parliamentary one doesn’t seem to worry him.

He notes that:

The 2016 Fine Gael-led government had a list mainly focused on housing and water charges. It got most of them done. Did the first 100 days define that government? No. Not at all. Not any more than the last 100 days of that government or any other 100-day period in between.

It is true that government made great play of its first 100 days. But you’d have to wonder how many people paid a blind bit of notice to that? And that’s why I’d be sceptical about the idea that ‘the first 100 days myth’ has any particular hold on the ‘public imagination’ as he asserts.

Actually, I’d think it’s perhaps a product of the shambolic manner in which this government has started that is likely to feed more into a first 100 days trope. How have they started? Not well. Though even that is a bit hazy, given the way in which Summer intruded on those 100 days. And that raises another point. That shambolic start may not be characteristic of the overall lifetime of the government but it does suggest deep-rooted problems from the off. Perhaps the truth is that the government will be seeking to shrug off the first 100 days. There’s also an odd contradiction with McGee’s own thesis expressed previously…

…for example, his analysis as regards the Green Party’s divisions on entering and being in government.

Perhaps this was a blip. That said, it is not a good portent for a Government that wants to survive a full term.

Or another quote from him a short while before that:

“What’s going to happen when the really hard stuff arrives, the stuff none of us want to vote for?” said a Fine Gael TD. “If this is what it’s like so early, how can the Government survive its full term?”

How indeed?

Promoting unions August 20, 2020

Thanks to MP for sending me the link to this… the (UK) Labour Party Graphic Designers group who are:

An independent network of graphic designers supporting @uklabour. Celebrating the best art and design of our movement, past and present.

And:

For our next artpack, we’re inviting creatives to design an original poster on the theme of ‘join a union’

The LPGD is

As a long long time union person I have to sympathise with a tweet from the TUC’s head of communications, campaigns and digital in response:

Please can we get people to read some insight about why people do & don’t join a union before designing? I don’t think I can bear any more “unions gave you the weekend”…

And the LPGD’s response back was good. ‘Send anything you think is useful over and we can add in links?’

And as the head of Comms noted:

Thank you! Here’s two for starters from us

https://tuc.org.uk/sites/default/

Incoherence is not unexpected… August 20, 2020

There have been many complaints about government messaging over the latest restrictions is that they’re incoherent. Some are without question contradictory (public transport being one area in particular) – but the overall thrust is clear. The situation has been two steps forward one and a half steps back, due to frankly scarifying numbers of new infections developing both in plants and factories and other locations but also:

Public health experts warned the Government of “multiple and significant outbreaks associated with households, workplaces and social activities”, Mr Martin told a news conference at Government Buildings, following a lengthy and often difficult Cabinet meeting.

200 or so cases in one day thrusts us right back to April/May. And there’s a grim calculus that those infections will lead to mortalities. Moreover:

Last night, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the Government had taken the measures to avoid the possibility of another national lockdown being introduced in the coming weeks.

It is understood that the private warnings given to the Government by public health experts are more severe than their published advice, and there are significant concerns that a big increase in cases is on the way in the coming days.

And the IT had a piece yesterday trying to tease out the contradictions. To be honest reading through them it struck me that in truth the government is trying to keep the lid on things as best it can and as much as it feels measures may be either politically acceptable or manageable or where it is willing to take the hit, as possibly with sport.

That said how does Pat Leahy seriously argue the day after those increased numbers of infections that:

All the while, the public gets increasingly restive – some resentful of those flouting the lockdown; others fed up of it and wondering why Ireland’s lockdown is one of the most stringent in Europe despite relative success in containing the virus over the summer. A further cohort is desperate to get their businesses open again; another is waiting impatiently to get their children back to school.

Is Ireland’s lockdown one of the most stringent in Europe? And even if it is, clearly given that increase in infections that ‘relative success’ has dissipated.

Leahy argues both sides, not untypically:

There are also serious differences on the best way forward: should the ultra-cautious approach advocated by the public health experts prevail, or must the Government continue with the reopening of the economy to sustain a country that must learn to live with the virus? One health source says the fears of public health experts about exponential growth in the virus over the coming weeks are much more intense and worrying in private than they are in public.

Is the health approach ‘ultra-cautious’ if ‘the fears of PHE… about exponential growth… are more intense and worrying in private…’ Surely if anything the approach isn’t cautious enough, again given the numbers. And Leahy surely has access to the same figures we do in regard to the situation in March when the country locked down with less than 100 confirmed cases as against this last few weeks figures.

And of course he does, but doesn’t integrate the figure usefully:

Both Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly yesterday promised to have, in the coming weeks, a new plan for the management of the virus for the next six to nine months. In the meantime they move hesitantly towards the reopening of the schools less than a fortnight’s time, at the same time warning that the country faces a threat from the virus as great as when the lockdown was first introduced.

It takes a comment BTL to point up one inescapable truth. The government approach, the roadmaps etc, were always predicated upon the virus being in retreat. At the time and after it was clearly stated that if the virus surged reopening would be halted or even reversed. This small truth appears to have been forgotten in the media and political framing of matters. Again it is a shame, and worse, that political leaders have not lead in respect of keeping that front and center.

There’s a further truth. There is contradiction – but that’s to be expected. The pressures on government and within it from business, and others, in relation to this must be enormous. And not just business. From everywhere. Far too often it has seemed that the central aspect of this, a viral pandemic, has been ignored or evaded, and continues to be so.

Just on schools. Clearly it is essential to reopen schools sooner rather than later. And particularly for those cohorts of students who are most vulnerable or whose educational needs are greatest. But the issue assumed a sort of tokenistic element of political virility over the Summer (Harry McGee had a particularly egregious example of same here). So the idea that schools had to reopen ‘fully’ took hold. This seems absurd in both terms of the facilities available and the potential hazards. This piece here is useful in that regard.

It is fairly clear that children under 10 are less of a risk to themselves and others. So, start with them returning in the next few weeks. Then carefully and methodically allow older children back in across a month or so in properly socially distanced cohorts at primary and secondary. Maximise precautions. Monitor levels of risk and so on. Be prepared to stop or reverse aspects. Be clear this is in essence a trial run to get every child back safely. Be level and open with people. And genuinely prioritise the issue – being willing to take ‘unpopular’ decisions in respect of other areas not reopening across September to November in order to ensure the safety of children, staff/teachers and parents. It’s genuinely not rocket science.

Irreligious August 19, 2020

Heard about this story here at the weekend. This from the Association of Catholic Priests points up a genuinely bizarre manifestation of the global alt-right, if it even deserves such a name. The case of the local RC church in Ballyhaunis where the local priest invited two representatives of the local Muslim community – who had contacted him asking could there be a ‘joint act of solidarity’ in the face of the pandemic – to join him prior to the final blessing at Mass. As the piece notes “one man intoned the Islamic call to prayer and then the other prayed for God’s mercy on all suffering from the coronavirus”.

Cue a lot of nonsense from what the ACP notes is the ‘alt-right Catholic media’ in the US and elsewhere framing this as ‘blasphemous prayers’ and ‘Muslim declares Muhammad’s supremacy over Jesus at Catholic Mass’.

Over the weekend as reported this morning there were ‘protests’ outside it by the usual crew.

I like one line in the report above in particular where it noted the commentary from these people was ‘slanted to produce maximum resentment’, something worth keeping in mind in other political contexts in regard to the far-right. There’s also been weird ‘protests’ outside the Church and so on, all of it painstakingly filmed by those holding them.

But as the author of the piece notes there’s one major omission in the framing by the far right:

That is: St. John Paul II had allowed the same Muslim call to prayer, the adhan, to mingle with the Mass he celebrated at Manger Square in Bethlehem on March 22, 2000. In that case, it was planned in advance at the highest level of the church. To my knowledge, no one ever accused the pope of heresy, or of celebrating a Satanic Mass, because of this. No one said the pope acquiesced to “an act of Islamic triumphalism.”